Honey Roasted Almonds

Up until about a year ago I was not a big fan of nuts. This all changed when Rachael turned me on to roasting our own at home. The smell is amazing and they taste just as good as they smell. We purchase raw nuts in bulk from Costco. We just roast them as needed and store the remainder in the fridge. You can also find them at the supermarket pre-packaged or in the bulk bins. These are so good and you can crank out a batch in no time. I should also mention that just dry roasting your nuts are fantastic on their own… without any sugar, honey, or salt. They make a great everyday snack.

However… when you’re in the mood for something sweet, these are awesome and highly addictive!

Variations: For spicy nuts, you can omit the cinnamon and add some Volcano Dust or cayenne pepper. For a holiday kind of flavor, try adding some ground clove and nutmeg in addition to the cinnamon. If you like your nuts smokey, add a couple shakes of liquid smoke to your syrup mixture. You can also substitute almost any raw nut for almonds or try a mixture of different nuts. I would recommend roasting different kinds of nuts separately as they will likely have different roasting times.

Your nuts will get crunchier as they cool and they might stick together, but no worries, they break apart very easily. The crunchy, sweet saltiness of these nuts will leave everyone begging for more. So my advice is to be prepared to make another batch. Enjoy!

Preheat oven to 350° degrees. Cover baking sheet with foil, dull side up; this helps them roast faster. Roast for about 10 minutes or until browned. The rule of thumb is once you can smell them they are done. Let nuts cool completely. Leave the foil on the baking sheet to be used later.

In a small bowl mix together sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

Add wet ingredients to a large sauté pan and heat over medium high heat whisking constantly until it comes to a boil. Add nuts and stir constantly until most of the liquid has been absorbed by the nuts, about 2 minutes. Be very careful not to scorch your nuts. Add dry mixture and stir until sugar has caramelized. A little more than a minute. Spread in a single layer on your foil covered baking sheet and let cool before serving.

Sorry you’re having trouble Allison. It had been a while since we made these, so we whipped up a batch last night to test it out again. You are correct that ALL of the liquid doesn’t really get absorbed. I will update the recipe to reflect this. Did you let the nuts cool after roasting? Did you make a larger batch? I did have trouble when I tried to double the recipe in the past. It sounds like you might need to increase the heat a little bit and it might take a little longer than one minute for the sugar mixture to “melt onto” the almonds. Let me know how it works out for you next time.

I made this batch, and it was very successful. One problem that I encountered was that the almonds stuck together. That might be because the liquid wasn’t really absorbed into the almonds, or whatever. I’d love to get some recommendations to keep them from sticking together, or at least sticking less. Cornstarch dusting? Wishful thinking?

Hi Peter. I would recommend as large of a baking sheet as possible to lay them out on to cool. The more you can spread them out, the less they will stick together. I don’t think a corn starch dusting would accomplish what you are looking for. Thanks for trying the recipe. I’m glad it was successful!